We Inherit the Fire

The incisive latest from Molope (Such a Lonely, Lovely Road) finds a Black South African teen and her mother reckoning with their frayed bond in the aftermath of apartheid. Kelelo Malaka’s mother, Kewame, a former anti-apartheid activist, was a political prisoner at 16, before Kelelo was born, and later became famous thanks to a photograph showing her confronting an armed white soldier with Kelelo strapped to her back. Kelelo learns of her mom’s fame when she’s six and wishes the emotionally absent Kewame could be “[her] mother” rather than “Mother of the Nation,” as she’s called in the press. After apartheid, Kewame and her husband send a pubescent Kelelo against her will to a newly desegregated school, where she becomes withdrawn, forced by administrators to speak only in English and resentful at Kewame’s inability to be soft and comforting. For her part, Kewame, who struggles in an increasingly unhappy marriage, worries about Kelelo, and begins to grapple with how her commitment to activism has harmed her relationships. The story builds to an insightful depiction of the complexities of mother-daughter dynamics. As Kewame reflects, “We love like this, the women in this family: with tenderness and fury.” This will move readers. (Jan.)